by Lindsay H. Jones, USA TODAY Sports

by Lindsay H. Jones, USA TODAY Sports

AKRON, Ohio - The Cleveland Browns fans who trekked to Akron for the team's first scrimmage saw Johnny Manziel run and they saw Brian Hoyer throw, but they didn't see any touchdowns from the first- or second-team offense.

That should be the biggest takeaway and the biggest concern coming out of the Browns' annual scrimmage at the University of Akron's InfoCision Stadium. No matter who winds up winning the starting quarterback job, whether it's stable veteran Hoyer, or the exciting but raw first-round pick Manziel, the Browns offense could be in trouble.

The Browns will say that the offensive struggles Saturday, the first unscripted practice of the preseason under new offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, is part of the learning process, part of adjusting to a new language and roster full of new players and playing without No. 1 receiver Josh Gordon. The Browns will also say that one of the reasons the offense has not looked good is because the defense is playing pretty great.

That might all be true, but the Browns better hope the offense can pull it together quickly.

The Browns have yet to make any changes to the quarterback depth chart they established before training camp began. Hoyer runs the first-team offense, while Manziel works with the second-team. Though there were discussions last week that Manziel might have earned himself snaps with the starting offensive line and top-line receivers, it hasn't happened yet, and head coach Mike Pettine disagreed with the notion Saturday that the quarterback competition is closer now than it was when training camp began.

"When camp began, Brian was the No. 1 because we had to have someone out there with the ones, but they were truly competing against each other," Pettine said. "At some point, we will mix the units. It's all part of our evaluation process."

But this is the challenge for Pettine and his staff in the next stage of the quarterback competition. It's easier to see in practice the things that Hoyer does well, and easier to see the flaws in Manziel. In Berea, in the scripted practice setting, Hoyer can show how much more of the playbook he knows than Manziel, how much better he is at managing the offense and commanding the huddle and reading the defense.

What Manziel does best is harder to measure â?? his freewheeling, improvising, make-you-miss, throw-on-the run style just doesn't translate to a scripted practice setting.

That's what makes this scrimmage, and certainly the preseason games that begin next week, more valuable to the Browns than maybe any other team in the league.

There were glimpses Saturday of what Hoyer can do well. He had two third-down conversions, including a 19-yarder to Miles Austin, on third-and-long on his first series of the scrimmage, and didn't appear to struggle with the logistics of the play calling.

But he and his first-team teammates often struggled with the Browns' defense, like on a safety blitz that would have been a sack, or with consistently tight coverage by cornerbacks Joe Haden and Buster Skrine. The best play of the scrimmage came when rookie defensive lineman Jacobbi McDaniel tipped Hoyer's pass at the line of scrimmage and it was intercepted by linebacker Barkevious Mingo.

The only points from the first-team offense came on a 53-yard Billy Cundiff field goal.

"We have to remember how good our defense is," Hoyer said. "It can be frustrating at times, but it's good to have them on our side."

Manziel, meanwhile, showed glimpses of that electric playing style that made him the most popular player in college football.

Saturday's scrimmage included a pair of designed running plays for Manziel â?? and he turned those two runs (one in a true team scrimmage session, the other in a red zone period) into a pair of nine-yard gains, and he appeared very comfortable running bootleg plays to the right and throwing on the run. Several times, Manziel chose to throw along the sideline rather than run out of bounds.

"You can tell that's going to be a strength of his, and some of the throws that he made on the run that it certainly is playing to his skillset," Pettine said.

Still, Manziel completed only three of seven passes for 14 yards in his two unscripted possessions. He had two other sets of red zone drills. (Hoyer, meanwhile, went 7-for-11, for 56 yards, in three drives.)

"I think for me, it's to get better every day. I keep saying that, and I know it's getting old. I mean that's really the story of my life right now. I have to get better, learn the stuff, and continue to get more and more familiar with every single play in our offense," Manziel said. "Days like today help."